For as long as he can remember, all the way back to his childhood home near 12th Street and 36th Avenue in Vero Beach, Scotty Emerick has been drawn to country music.
“My dad raised us on old country music, everything from Hank Williams to Willie Nelson to Emmylou Harris, so it’s something I’ve been around since I was a kid,” Emerick said. “And as a singer and songwriter, that’s all I’ve ever done.”
This weekend, the Grammy Award-winning songwriter, best known for his longtime collaboration with country superstar Toby Keith, brings his music back home: Emerick is booked for a one-night-only concert Saturday at the Endless Summer Vineyard & Winery, north of Fort Pierce on Johnston Road.
“I like to get home when I can, especially this time of year when it’s colder up north,” said Emerick, now 42 and one of the most successful songwriters in the industry. “When I was first approached for the show at the vineyard, I knew I was going to be in town, visiting my mother and family, so it was pretty convenient.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he added. “It should be a fun night.”
Scotty Emerick embarked on his music career at age 6, when his father gave him a small guitar and he taught himself enough chords to play songs. By the time he was 12, he was performing at the local Moose Lodge and VFW Hall.
Then, after following in his older brother’s footsteps and attending firefighter school, he loaded his Mazda truck and took his talents to Nashville to chase a country music dream.
He was 19.
Two years later, he had co-written his first hit song – “I Don’t Believe In Goodbye,” which was recorded by Sawyer Brown and climbed into the top five on the country music charts in 1995 – and he has been writing, recording and performing ever since.
Many of Emerick’s songs not only tell a story – as is often the case in country music – but they’re humorous, too.
For example, the 2011 hit song he wrote for Billy Currington opens with the lyrics: “He never tells me that he’s sick of this house. He never says, ‘Why don’t you get off that couch?’ He don’t cost me nothin’ when he wants to go out. I want you to love me like my dog.”
Emerick, who once described his youth as an “all-American, barefoot-boy life,” has written lots of fun songs, particularly with Keith, whom he met backstage at the 1997 Country Music Association awards show.
They became fast friends and, together, produced 52 songs, including, “I Love This Bar” and “As Good As I Once Was,” both of which became huge hits for Keith.
The list also includes “I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight,” “Get Drunk and Be Somebody,” “Beer For My Horses,” “Whiskey Girl” and “It’s A Little Too Late.”
The pair also collaborated on “I Can’t Take You Anywhere,” a top-25 hit Emerick recorded as a duet with Keith in 2003.
“I’ve always enjoyed it all – writing, recording and performing – so I can’t say I prefer one over the other,” Emerick said.
“They’re completely different animals.
“Obviously, songwriting has been better to me, but I still love to get out in front of an audience and perform, too.”
Emerick, who also has written for mega-stars George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Ronnie Millsap and Willie Nelson, said it’s a thrill to hear his songs on the radio.
“It’s a pretty neat feeling to hear guys like that do your songs,” he said. “It also lets you know you’re writing good stuff.
“I’m not much of an ego guy, but it does give you confidence. That’s a big deal when you’re young.”
Emerick said he first experimented with songwriting as a teenager and “nothing came easy.” So even after moving to Nashville, he studied other country music writers, learned a formula that worked for him and kept at it until he had a hit.
“It wasn’t like it came naturally to me,” he said. “I put in a lot time and effort. … It’s like a lot of things, I guess. The more you do it, the better you get.”
He paused for a moment, then added, “Of course, getting that first hit always helps.”
Eight years his senior – and having left for Nashville a year after graduating from Vero Beach High School – Emerick said he didn’t know Jake Owen when the two were growing up here. They met in December 2003, when he came back home to visit his family.
They’ve since become friends.
Emerick said he and Owen have “written a song or two together.” Last month, Vero Beach’s two country music stars shared the stage at the Riverside Theater for a concert to raise funds for Owen’s foundation.
Owen’s rise to stardom hasn’t made Emerick jealous at all. In fact, Emerick said he’s rooting for his hometown pal, whom he described as a “really talented guy and a wonderful person.”
When asked if Owen’s success has reduced him to being “Vero Beach’s other country music star,” Emerick chuckled and replied, “No, not really. I’ve always been just another guy.
“There’s no competition between us,” he added. “He’s great at what he does and I’m very happy for him.”
Besides, their styles are different.
While there’s more of a modern, rock-and-roll flavor to Owen’s brand of country music, Emerick’s songs tend to favor the old-school country sound he grew up with.
“I was country before it was cool, when it was cool and, if it’s not cool anymore, after it was cool,” Emerick said. “That’s not going to change.”
